Gainesway Steps Up, Plucks Grade II Winner Out of Fonner Park

Conquest Big E (Tapit), an 8-year-old with a win in the 2018 GII Gulfstream Park Mile S. on his record, was acquired privately Friday by his breeder, Gainesway Farm, with the expressed intent of retiring the gelding.

A day earlier, Conquest Big E's story was making the rounds on social media, with many worried that his well-being was in jeopardy. He was entered in a $3,500 claimer Friday at Fonner Park, which was to be his first start since he failed to complete the course in a June 19, 2020 claimer at Prairie Meadows. He was bought by Gainesway prior to the race and was scratched.

According to Gainseway General Manger Brian Graves, Conquest Big E will be sent to Remember Me Rescue in Burleson, Texas, where he will be retrained for a second career. Remember Me is operated by Donna and Dallas Keen.

“I'm not on social media, but I received a text from a friend Thursday night that there was some buzz on social media about this horse,” Graves said. “We would take care of any horse like that that we knew about. When we found out about this, we made a call. It wasn't the easiest thing to get done, but at the end of the day we were able to get it done.”

Conquest Big E scored the biggest win of his career in the Gulfstream Mile, where he defeated GI Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming (Bodemeister). At the time, he was owned by Donna Hurtak and trained by Daniel Hurtak. Some eight months later, on November 18, 2018, Conquest Big E won a allowance/optional claimer at Gulfstream Park West, but his form soon started to deteriorate. He would go on to lose his next nine starts, many of them by a dozen lengths or more.

Conquest Big E won six of 34 career starts for earnings of $434,875.

Graves said he reached out to co-owner and trainer Wayne Hille and arranged to buy the horse. Gainesway paid him $3,500, the claiming price he was set to run for, plus the amount he would have earned had he won the race that had a $5,000 purse.

Graves said that many of the social media posts had exaggerated the horse's condition.

“At first appearance, he looks to be sound,” he said. “There is a very good chance for this story to have a happy ending. This is a beautiful horse and I don't see any reason why he won't go on to a second career. The best we could tell, the social media posts were way too negative. He looked to be well cared for and didn't appear to be in terrible condition at all. He was sound for racing. He should make a nice sport horse.”

Graves said that Gainesway bought the horse because it was the right thing to do.

“All of us are in this business because we love horses,” he said. “When they reach a certain level like this, there's a rosier future for them doing something else, like being a show horse or an event horse. When you can be helpful with a transaction like this and help ease somebody else's situation with a, relatively speaking, small financial decision, it's an easy thing to do.”